Chinese scientists have successfully developed revolutionary salt-tolerant "seawater rice" by overexpressing genes from wild rice varieties, enabling cultivation in saline and alkaline coastal soils where traditional rice cannot survive, according to the South China Morning Post.
The groundbreaking project was initiated by the late Yuan Longping, known as China's "father of hybrid rice," and is now being advanced by the Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research Centre, with trial fields in Tianjin achieving impressive yields of 4.6 metric tons per acre.
As of 2024, over 400,000 hectares have been successfully planted with this innovative rice strain, with ambitious expansion plans targeting 667,000 hectares this year to maximize agricultural productivity in previously unusable land.
Dialogue Earth reports that cultivating seawater rice on just one-tenth of China's saline soil could boost national rice production by nearly 20%, potentially providing enough food to sustain 200 million people by 2030.
This agricultural breakthrough not only strengthens China's food security but also offers a crucial adaptation strategy for addressing climate change challenges, rising sea levels, and the ongoing reduction of arable farmland across the nation.
